Graham talks Syria, Iran during Spartanburg stop

By TREVOR ANDERSONtrevor.anderson@shj.com

Tuesday

May 28, 2013 at 3:35 PM

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham spoke to a group of 125 Rotarians at the Piedmont Club in Spartanburg on Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he believes the decisions made in Washington during the next 12 months will be crucial to America's future as a global leader.The Republican leader mapped out his positions on several issues he hopes to see resolved during that time while serving as the guest speaker Tuesday at the Rotary Club of Spartanburg's weekly meeting at the Piedmont Club.Before a crowd of 125 Rotarians and guests, Graham addressed the scandals swirling around the Obama administration, the civil war in Syria, the Affordable Care Act, Iran's nuclear aspirations, immigration and entitlement reform.“Some of the most important decisions of our generation will be made over the next year,” said Graham, 57, who is up for re-election in 2014. “I plan to be right there in the middle of each one... If you don't like the job I've done, you can fire me.”A day after speaking at a Memorial Day ceremony in Six Mile, the former Pickens County attorney questioned President Barack Obama's actions before, during and after the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has repeatedly called on the president to provide information on the survivors of the eight-hour attack that claimed the lives of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.Graham has also scrutinized the talking points rolled out by the Obama administration after the attack. On Tuesday, he called them clear “political manipulation.”“The bond of trust between those who serve and their government was broken,” Graham said. “The Bin Laden raid was a tough call… and I was one of the first to tell the president well done… But we can't have a government where you celebrate your successes and hide your failures… I'm not going to stop because we need to find out how the system failed before, during and after… There is only one commander-in-chief. And (Obama) needs to square this with the American people.”Graham called for a special body to investigate the Justice Department's seizure of journalists' records and the Internal Revenue Service's reported targeting of conservative groups for additional scrutiny.“(U.S. Attorney General) Eric Holder can't investigate himself,” Graham said. “There's nothing more frightening than your own government turning on you.”Graham next steered toward immigration reform, discussing legislation that he and the seven other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, nicknamed the “Gang of Eight,” introduced in April. The bill, in its current form, creates a 13-year road to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants living in this country illegally, establishes a new guest worker program, expands the number of visas for highly skilled workers and mandates more border security. He said the biggest change will be a national E-Verify system.“You're not going to stop illegal immigration until you control who gets a job,” Graham said.He said immigration is an economic issue for the country that also has political implications for his party, which he said is losing support among minority voters.“We need a practical, long-term solution to a real problem,” Graham said. “I'm confident that 2013 will be the year that we finally get immigration reform done.”Graham said his biggest fear is for radical Islamists to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. He reaffirmed his support for Israel and advocated for a tough stance against Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.Graham drew some attention earlier in the day when he jokingly mentioned in a tweet that he had dibs on fellow Republican Sen. John McCain's office should the Arizona statesman not return from his surprise trip to Syria to visit with opposition groups fighting those loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.But Graham declared his “best wishes” for McCain and said the trip has revealed two things: the Assad regime is winning and Iran is pouring in arms and support to prop up the government.Graham said the European Union's lift of a ban on supplying rebel groups with weapons was a step in the right direction. He said he backs supporting “vetted” rebel groups with patriot and cruise missiles and establishing a no-fly zone over the country to neutralize the Assad regime's air supremacy.Graham stopped short of calling for U.S. troops to be sent in, but said the regime's chemical weapons have to be secured and then destroyed.“We need to end this war,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is take incremental steps.”The senator voiced his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” and said he fears it will collapse the economy and lead to a “double-dip recession.”He said he was proud of South Carolina for opposing the Medicaid expansion associated with the legislation, and by 2014, he hopes to rebuild it with “something that works.”Graham's message for President Obama: “I will fight you when I must, and I will work with you when I can.”The senator's remarks appeared to be well-received by those in the audience.“Rotary is a group of business people, and it's always important that we have speakers who can relate the issues that will impact us in some way,” said Spartanburg Rotary Club president-elect Darwin Simpson. “I think (Graham) laid it out very clearly. He illuminated those issues and gave us a good indication of what the future is going to look like. We're very pleased to have him here.”Graham was elected to the late Sen. Strom Thurmond's seat in 2002, after the eight-term incumbent decided to retire. He was re-elected in 2008 by defeating Democrat Bob Conley.State Sen. Lee Bright, of Roebuck, has hinted that he might challenge Graham for the seat during next year's Republican primary.

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